0:00:02 > 0:00:08This programme contains some scenes which some viewers may find upsetting
0:00:08 > 0:00:14In 1888, in Provence... in the city of Arles,
0:00:14 > 0:00:17an event occurred that would enter modern legend.
0:00:20 > 0:00:23In the red-light district on the northern edge of town,
0:00:23 > 0:00:26a foreigner arrived at the door of a brothel.
0:00:29 > 0:00:33He handed a package to one of the girls.
0:00:33 > 0:00:37That package contained a bloody piece of his own flesh.
0:00:39 > 0:00:42The man's name was Vincent van Gogh.
0:00:44 > 0:00:48At the time, he was an unknown and unsuccessful painter,
0:00:48 > 0:00:53but today he is among the most celebrated artists of all time.
0:00:56 > 0:00:59That year in Arles has gone on to define him -
0:00:59 > 0:01:05the year he created his most treasured masterpieces,
0:01:05 > 0:01:09but also the time when he took a knife to his own ear.
0:01:13 > 0:01:17Vincent van Gogh was found in his bed at seven in the morning
0:01:17 > 0:01:19on Christmas Eve, 1888.
0:01:19 > 0:01:21He was curled up in a foetal position,
0:01:21 > 0:01:24his head swathed in blood-soaked rags.
0:01:24 > 0:01:28The policeman who found him thought that he was dead.
0:01:31 > 0:01:35It's the most famous incident in the history of modern art.
0:01:36 > 0:01:39But no-one can agree what actually happened.
0:01:41 > 0:01:44We can't even be sure that he cut off his own ear.
0:01:48 > 0:01:52Now, I'm joining one dedicated art lover living in Provence
0:01:52 > 0:01:57who's been on a seven-year mission to uncover the forgotten truth
0:01:57 > 0:01:58behind the legend.
0:01:59 > 0:02:04There is something seriously wrong here.
0:02:04 > 0:02:07Hunting for every possible scrap of evidence...
0:02:07 > 0:02:10Eventually, you find this tiny little document here.
0:02:10 > 0:02:11Oh, my godfathers.
0:02:13 > 0:02:18..and hidden clues in the paintings on an international journey
0:02:18 > 0:02:23that promises to solve the most perplexing art mystery of our times.
0:02:25 > 0:02:27Oh, mon Dieu, je l'ai trouve.
0:02:27 > 0:02:28Oh, my God, I've found it.
0:02:39 > 0:02:44The ancient town of Arles sits on the northern edge of the Camargue.
0:02:46 > 0:02:50A Roman city only 20 miles from the Mediterranean coast.
0:02:53 > 0:02:58Vincent van Gogh arrived here in 1888, aged 35,
0:02:58 > 0:03:04an unsuccessful artist escaping the sneers of Paris for a brighter and,
0:03:04 > 0:03:07as he thought, purer world down south.
0:03:11 > 0:03:13In April, he went to a bullfight.
0:03:24 > 0:03:28Culturally, this town sits between France and Spain,
0:03:28 > 0:03:32famous as a romantic place of cowboys and gypsies,
0:03:32 > 0:03:33with its own language,
0:03:33 > 0:03:35culture and colourful costumes.
0:03:39 > 0:03:41When Van Gogh painted the scene,
0:03:41 > 0:03:45he focused on the exotic women in the stands,
0:03:45 > 0:03:47not the gory action in the arena.
0:03:48 > 0:03:51"The crowd was magnificent," he wrote to a friend.
0:03:51 > 0:03:54"The local women and girls in cheap,
0:03:54 > 0:04:00"simple material in green and red or pink or Havana yellow.
0:04:00 > 0:04:04"And, above it all, a sulphurous sun in a vibrant blue sky.
0:04:04 > 0:04:08"It was all," he said, "as gay as Holland was dismal."
0:04:11 > 0:04:15It's hard, at first, not to get swept away in the spectacle.
0:04:19 > 0:04:23But it's not a fair fight, and it has an inevitable end.
0:04:29 > 0:04:32For local people, the bloody end of these poor animals
0:04:32 > 0:04:36is the explanation for Vincent's own bloody episode in Arles.
0:04:38 > 0:04:42There's a local yarn that says that van Gogh's cutting off of his ear
0:04:42 > 0:04:47and sending it to his girlfriend is explained by bullfighting because,
0:04:47 > 0:04:50at the end of a successful contest,
0:04:50 > 0:04:52the bull's ear is cut off and sent
0:04:52 > 0:04:55to a lucky recipient in the audience.
0:04:58 > 0:05:02Unfortunately, the facts get in the way of this local legend.
0:05:03 > 0:05:07When Vincent was here, they didn't cut off the ears.
0:05:07 > 0:05:10That's a tradition they've imported from Spain.
0:05:15 > 0:05:20What happens here is, for the most part, impenetrable to outsiders.
0:05:20 > 0:05:23But the local story can't always be trusted.
0:05:26 > 0:05:31It's for that reason that van Gogh's time here is so misunderstood.
0:05:37 > 0:05:40It would take a foreigner with local knowledge
0:05:40 > 0:05:42to help unravel the mystery.
0:05:45 > 0:05:48My favourite part of the day is to water the plants.
0:05:50 > 0:05:55Bernadette Murphy was once an art history student in London,
0:05:55 > 0:05:57but she moved to Provence back in 1983.
0:05:59 > 0:06:02After years living and working in the region,
0:06:02 > 0:06:04she knows the place and the people
0:06:04 > 0:06:07about as well as any outsider can.
0:06:12 > 0:06:14I'm a foreigner, fair enough,
0:06:14 > 0:06:18but there's also another term which they use here - an "estranger".
0:06:18 > 0:06:21It means somebody who's not from their environment.
0:06:21 > 0:06:25So, you'll always be, probably, an estranger in Provence,
0:06:25 > 0:06:28but slowly I'm pretty well-integrated now.
0:06:31 > 0:06:36Bernadette became fascinated by the stories told about Provence's
0:06:36 > 0:06:39most famous estranger, Vincent van Gogh.
0:06:41 > 0:06:45She was astonished to discover how little was known for sure
0:06:45 > 0:06:49about his story, and the night he's said to have cut off his ear.
0:06:52 > 0:06:55I kept thinking, "Aren't there police records?"
0:06:55 > 0:06:58You know. "Aren't there medical records?
0:06:58 > 0:07:00"How come there's so much ambiguity about the whole story?"
0:07:00 > 0:07:03And I thought, "You know what?
0:07:03 > 0:07:05"I'm going to look into this a little bit further."
0:07:05 > 0:07:07And so the adventure began.
0:07:18 > 0:07:23Since 2010, Bernadette has haunted the town record offices,
0:07:23 > 0:07:26libraries and archives of Arles.
0:07:29 > 0:07:32- Bonjour.- Bonjour.- Ca va?
0:07:34 > 0:07:40Her great advantage was that she had local knowledge and connections,
0:07:40 > 0:07:43and she knew her way around French bureaucracy.
0:07:43 > 0:07:45SHE SPEAKS FRENCH
0:07:47 > 0:07:52Her first instinct was to understand the scene of the crime,
0:07:52 > 0:07:56the place where Vincent supposedly cut off his ear,
0:07:56 > 0:08:01and, incidentally, the most famous artists' studio of all time.
0:08:10 > 0:08:14The Yellow House was both the inspiration for some of Van Gogh's
0:08:14 > 0:08:17most memorable paintings and the studio
0:08:17 > 0:08:20where many of his masterpieces were painted.
0:08:24 > 0:08:29It was on the northern edge of the city, on Place Lamartine,
0:08:29 > 0:08:33until 1944 when it was bombed in the War.
0:08:38 > 0:08:41I met Bernadette where it once stood,
0:08:41 > 0:08:43to get my first feel for the place
0:08:43 > 0:08:48that was the centre of Van Gogh's world for nine months in Arles
0:08:48 > 0:08:51and the place where this whole brilliant
0:08:51 > 0:08:53and gruesome story played out.
0:08:58 > 0:09:00You're actually standing more or less
0:09:00 > 0:09:02on the site of the Yellow House.
0:09:02 > 0:09:06This part of the Yellow House was the entry doorway,
0:09:06 > 0:09:09and the Yellow House wasn't flat at the front,
0:09:09 > 0:09:12it was sort of slightly triangular, so, over this way,
0:09:12 > 0:09:15this would be part of the studio.
0:09:15 > 0:09:17And above my head was Vincent's bedroom.
0:09:17 > 0:09:19But that building there
0:09:19 > 0:09:21is very recognisable from the painting, isn't it?
0:09:21 > 0:09:24It's the only one, really, that still exists.
0:09:24 > 0:09:28And how did Vincent van Gogh end up living here?
0:09:28 > 0:09:31He arrived in Arles, the station was over there,
0:09:31 > 0:09:34and he walked through the gates that are over there,
0:09:34 > 0:09:37through into the city, and took out a room in a hotel.
0:09:37 > 0:09:40Meanwhile, we know that he's painting in the fields
0:09:40 > 0:09:44beyond the station, and on the way he had to pass in front of a cafe,
0:09:44 > 0:09:47and the cafe was over there, and the lady who ran it,
0:09:47 > 0:09:49she'd been raised in the Yellow House,
0:09:49 > 0:09:51and her parents both died there.
0:09:51 > 0:09:55So, the house had not been lived in for about 18 months
0:09:55 > 0:09:56when Vincent took it over.
0:10:00 > 0:10:03Vincent's painting gives a vivid sense
0:10:03 > 0:10:05of Place Lamartine as he knew it.
0:10:07 > 0:10:11In the background is the railway bridge leading to the station.
0:10:12 > 0:10:16In the foreground, roadworks where the gas main was being installed.
0:10:18 > 0:10:20And in the streets,
0:10:20 > 0:10:24his neighbours mill about on their way to and from the greengrocer.
0:10:26 > 0:10:30It's an image bursting with optimism.
0:10:30 > 0:10:34And yet, it was behind those pretty green windows
0:10:34 > 0:10:37that he supposedly cut his own ear.
0:10:38 > 0:10:42How did Van Gogh's life in Arles go so very badly wrong?
0:10:48 > 0:10:53The mystery all turns on events two nights before Christmas, 1888.
0:10:56 > 0:11:00The bare facts are reported in local press accounts.
0:11:04 > 0:11:07At 11.30, a man named Monsieur Vincent appeared
0:11:07 > 0:11:10at the door of a brothel on Rue du Bout d'Arles.
0:11:13 > 0:11:15He asked there for a girl named Rachel.
0:11:17 > 0:11:22When she arrived, he handed her his own severed ear.
0:11:23 > 0:11:26But can the reports really be trusted?
0:11:28 > 0:11:30More than one account gives his nationality,
0:11:30 > 0:11:33not as Dutch, but as Polish.
0:11:34 > 0:11:37Three versions say the ear was in a package.
0:11:38 > 0:11:41Another says he was holding it in place on his head.
0:11:43 > 0:11:47Most say this girl Rachel was a prostitute,
0:11:47 > 0:11:50but one says she was just a girl who worked at a cafe.
0:11:55 > 0:11:59With so many inconsistencies, Bernadette was determined
0:11:59 > 0:12:02to find out what, if anything, was true,
0:12:02 > 0:12:04even the fact that he'd cut off his ear.
0:12:09 > 0:12:13It's the one thing we think we all know about Vincent,
0:12:13 > 0:12:16but is it really just tabloid sensationalism?
0:12:18 > 0:12:22Because the world's foremost experts aren't convinced
0:12:22 > 0:12:24that's what actually happened.
0:12:34 > 0:12:39In Amsterdam is the beating heart of the world of Van Gogh,
0:12:39 > 0:12:42the Van Gogh Museum, founded by his descendants.
0:12:46 > 0:12:50This magnificent museum holds the world's largest collection of
0:12:50 > 0:12:54his paintings, and it's visited by nearly two million people a year.
0:12:59 > 0:13:03It's regularly asked to adjudicate upon amateur theories on Vincent.
0:13:07 > 0:13:10We're a museum about a very famous artist,
0:13:10 > 0:13:13and many people are also obsessive about the artist in the sense that
0:13:13 > 0:13:17they tend to think that they've got a personal relationship with him.
0:13:17 > 0:13:19And I have to tell you that there are many...
0:13:19 > 0:13:23Well, I call them amateur historians, who are interested
0:13:23 > 0:13:26in questions of Van Gogh and try to solve them by themselves.
0:13:26 > 0:13:28And Bernadette was such a person.
0:13:31 > 0:13:36Bernadette has been given access to the museum's own research centre.
0:13:36 > 0:13:38Great, great.
0:13:38 > 0:13:40Thank you.
0:13:40 > 0:13:43She has asked to see the evidence which seems to cast doubt
0:13:43 > 0:13:45on the story that he cut off his ear.
0:13:49 > 0:13:53This notebook of an early biographer contains a letter from the painter
0:13:53 > 0:13:57Paul Signac, who visited Vincent shortly after his injury.
0:14:00 > 0:14:02So, it says...
0:14:02 > 0:14:06"I saw him the last time in Arles in the spring of 1889.
0:14:06 > 0:14:09"He was already at the hospital of the town,
0:14:09 > 0:14:12"but the day of my visit he was perfectly OK,
0:14:12 > 0:14:18"and he had the famous band round his head, and a fur hat.
0:14:18 > 0:14:21"A few days earlier, he'd cut off...
0:14:21 > 0:14:23"Cut off the lobe of the ear
0:14:23 > 0:14:24"and not the ear."
0:14:26 > 0:14:30Seeming to support this is a drawing that was made of Vincent
0:14:30 > 0:14:33on his deathbed a year and a half later by his doctor.
0:14:33 > 0:14:39And there's Vincent lying with his eyes shut and the ear,
0:14:39 > 0:14:41the top part of the ear, perfectly intact.
0:14:41 > 0:14:46So this confirms what Paul Signac said in 1921.
0:14:46 > 0:14:51An eyewitness statement and another eyewitness statement.
0:14:51 > 0:14:54So, there is something seriously wrong here.
0:14:56 > 0:15:00That a man would cut the lobe of an ear and it would become
0:15:00 > 0:15:04the most famous incident associated with any artist ever...
0:15:06 > 0:15:07I'm a little bit underwhelmed.
0:15:07 > 0:15:09It's a bit surprising.
0:15:12 > 0:15:16The newspapers all say that he cut off his ear,
0:15:16 > 0:15:20but these later eyewitnesses are clear it was only the lobe.
0:15:23 > 0:15:27Experts have long been perplexed by this disparity.
0:15:29 > 0:15:32Who to believe? That's always been the question.
0:15:32 > 0:15:34But, in general, for us, the...
0:15:34 > 0:15:37What we chose, what we found the more reliable,
0:15:37 > 0:15:40is some of these people who were close to him, who saw him,
0:15:40 > 0:15:42who knew him for a couple of times in his home,
0:15:42 > 0:15:43and they said it was half the ear.
0:15:43 > 0:15:46So that has always been our point of view.
0:15:51 > 0:15:54Was the ear incident a major crisis?
0:15:55 > 0:16:00Or was it just a minor event that's been sexed up over time?
0:16:09 > 0:16:12Unlike the vast majority of other artists,
0:16:12 > 0:16:15Vincent's life is as famous as his work.
0:16:17 > 0:16:21It's one of the reasons this museum in particular is so well-attended.
0:16:25 > 0:16:29Of course, Van Gogh isn't the only artist who could pack out a gallery
0:16:29 > 0:16:33day after day, but what is unusual about him is the extent to which
0:16:33 > 0:16:40his personal story is tied up in our appreciation of his paintings.
0:16:40 > 0:16:42People don't just come to see the sunflowers,
0:16:42 > 0:16:44they want to see the self-portrait,
0:16:44 > 0:16:47the staring eyes of a man dead at 37,
0:16:47 > 0:16:50whose vision was simply too intense for the world.
0:16:53 > 0:16:57For once, the word "icon" is the right one.
0:16:57 > 0:17:00These images stand for the modern belief
0:17:00 > 0:17:03that genius and self-destruction go hand in hand.
0:17:05 > 0:17:10So, if he didn't cut his ear off, is that whole story built on a lie?
0:17:15 > 0:17:20The man who arrived in Arles was 35 years old and had plenty
0:17:20 > 0:17:22in his background to suggest a tortured soul.
0:17:26 > 0:17:31Born in 1853, the son of a Dutch Protestant minister,
0:17:31 > 0:17:35those close to him long suspected he might be mentally ill.
0:17:37 > 0:17:40He was unable to sustain careers as an art dealer,
0:17:40 > 0:17:43a pastor or as a teaching assistant.
0:17:46 > 0:17:49Instead of respectable relationships,
0:17:49 > 0:17:53he was drawn to peasants and poor street-women,
0:17:53 > 0:17:57the only people who would put up with his weird,
0:17:57 > 0:17:58fanatical personality.
0:18:03 > 0:18:08You have a person who was alternately unbelievably depressive
0:18:08 > 0:18:12or unbelievably manic, who also attached himself to people.
0:18:13 > 0:18:15If he found a friend, he wouldn't let that person go.
0:18:16 > 0:18:19But he was also terribly argumentative,
0:18:19 > 0:18:23so that left him literally in a life of almost no friendship,
0:18:23 > 0:18:26and with a family that would despair over him.
0:18:27 > 0:18:31There were times in his life when he was so lonely that the only person
0:18:31 > 0:18:35he spoke to during the day was the waitress at the cafe
0:18:35 > 0:18:37who he ordered his lunch from.
0:18:37 > 0:18:42So few of us can imagine the sheer agony of being Vincent van Gogh.
0:18:46 > 0:18:49The one person who stuck by him throughout
0:18:49 > 0:18:50was his younger brother, Theo.
0:18:54 > 0:18:56Theo was a successful art dealer,
0:18:56 > 0:19:00and it was he who took up the burden of setting Vincent back
0:19:00 > 0:19:02on the straight and narrow by offering to fund
0:19:02 > 0:19:04a new career for him as a painter.
0:19:07 > 0:19:12But he was unable to sell any of Vincent's dour early work.
0:19:15 > 0:19:21In February, 1888, Vincent was a failed painter,
0:19:21 > 0:19:23totally dependent on his brother,
0:19:23 > 0:19:27and suspected by many of being mentally ill.
0:19:27 > 0:19:31That seems easily enough to explain a nervous breakdown.
0:19:36 > 0:19:41But actually, the year it happened, things were all going pretty well.
0:20:00 > 0:20:04On February 20th, he moved down to Arles,
0:20:04 > 0:20:08and there he took off on daily treks into the countryside
0:20:08 > 0:20:11in search of inspiration for a new kind of art.
0:20:15 > 0:20:18When you think of the heat,
0:20:18 > 0:20:21and the fact that he was carrying an easel and canvases,
0:20:21 > 0:20:24these walks must have been real marathons.
0:20:26 > 0:20:29What seduced him were the colours.
0:20:31 > 0:20:36He had abandoned completely the dreary old greys and browns
0:20:36 > 0:20:39of Northern Europe, and here in Southern France
0:20:39 > 0:20:43seemed to have discovered an entirely new world.
0:20:46 > 0:20:50To us, the landscape around Arles is quintessential Provence.
0:20:52 > 0:20:55But in Vincent's mind, it was dazzlingly alien.
0:20:57 > 0:21:01But whether it was the rich colours that surrounded him
0:21:01 > 0:21:05or simply the fact that he was away from critical eyes,
0:21:05 > 0:21:07on these lonely country walks,
0:21:07 > 0:21:10he finally found his painting style.
0:21:11 > 0:21:16When he got where he wanted to be, he attacked the canvas.
0:21:16 > 0:21:21"I follow no recognised system of brushwork," he said.
0:21:21 > 0:21:26"I hit with irregular brushstrokes, which I leave as they are.
0:21:26 > 0:21:30"I'm tempted to think that the results will be so worrying
0:21:30 > 0:21:33"and annoying as not to please people
0:21:33 > 0:21:36"with preconceived ideas about technique."
0:21:40 > 0:21:43He was right - no-one understood it at the time.
0:21:47 > 0:21:52But now we see his works in Arles as his masterpieces.
0:22:01 > 0:22:05He wrote to Theo that he'd found the future of modern art.
0:22:08 > 0:22:12And he dreamed that a whole movement of artists would soon join him
0:22:12 > 0:22:15on a shared mission, painting in the South.
0:22:24 > 0:22:30But what was it that changed Vincent from this optimistic dreamer
0:22:30 > 0:22:33into a mental patient capable of self-harm?
0:22:36 > 0:22:39Bernadette is convinced the answers have to lie
0:22:39 > 0:22:41in the town of Arles itself.
0:22:52 > 0:22:55She took me to the last place Vincent was seen
0:22:55 > 0:22:56the night he cut his ear...
0:22:58 > 0:23:00The Rue du Bout d'Arles,
0:23:00 > 0:23:03only 100 yards from the Yellow House.
0:23:07 > 0:23:11He was seen there at a brothel at about 11.30pm.
0:23:13 > 0:23:16Well, this was the heart of the red light district
0:23:16 > 0:23:18in Arles in 1888.
0:23:18 > 0:23:20So these were all brothels, were they?
0:23:20 > 0:23:22Well, unfortunately, this was a convent,
0:23:22 > 0:23:26and they complained incessantly about the noise,
0:23:26 > 0:23:30but of course the town fathers ignored that, quite happily.
0:23:32 > 0:23:35What was it like on the street down here then?
0:23:35 > 0:23:37I would imagine a pretty lively place.
0:23:38 > 0:23:41This whole street would've been comings and goings
0:23:41 > 0:23:44and quite a lot of noise. People were making complaints and saying
0:23:44 > 0:23:46the girls were making lewd remarks,
0:23:46 > 0:23:49and there was screaming and yelling and all sorts of things going on.
0:23:49 > 0:23:52But we know that Van Gogh was a frequent user of brothels, do we?
0:23:52 > 0:23:55Well, he and his brother talk about it quite openly in their letters.
0:23:55 > 0:23:58You know, it was part and parcel of life, I think,
0:23:58 > 0:24:01of a 19th century man - you just went to the brothel,
0:24:01 > 0:24:05and Vincent equates it with, you know, having bread and food.
0:24:05 > 0:24:08"I've got enough money for this.
0:24:08 > 0:24:10"I haven't had a screw for three weeks."
0:24:10 > 0:24:12You know, he actually says that.
0:24:16 > 0:24:20Vincent frequented many of these brothels, and he painted one,
0:24:20 > 0:24:22giving us a sense of the atmosphere.
0:24:25 > 0:24:29But on the night of December 23rd, he sought out one in particular.
0:24:29 > 0:24:32He crossed over the square...
0:24:32 > 0:24:36It's been identified at the end of the street.
0:24:37 > 0:24:40And he came directly to this house,
0:24:40 > 0:24:43which was the House Of Tolerance, number 1.
0:24:43 > 0:24:45That's what, somewhere around here, is it?
0:24:45 > 0:24:46It's actually here.
0:24:46 > 0:24:49- Where these cars are parked now. - It was absolutely here
0:24:49 > 0:24:50where these cars are parked.
0:24:50 > 0:24:53It was bombed by accident in the Second World War.
0:24:53 > 0:24:54What do we know about what happened?
0:24:54 > 0:24:58He knocked on the door, and what happened then?
0:24:58 > 0:25:01Well, around 11.30, he turned up here,
0:25:01 > 0:25:03but he doesn't seem to go into the brothel,
0:25:03 > 0:25:06he asks for this girl called Rachel.
0:25:06 > 0:25:08At least that's what the local newspaper says.
0:25:08 > 0:25:12And presumably she came out into the street,
0:25:12 > 0:25:16and he hands her a parcel.
0:25:16 > 0:25:20And he gives it to her and says something that seems almost biblical
0:25:20 > 0:25:24in reference. He says, "Take care of this, look after this carefully,
0:25:24 > 0:25:30"do this... Keep a souvenir of me, a memory of me."
0:25:30 > 0:25:31Do this in remembrance of me?
0:25:31 > 0:25:33- That's what I think.- Yeah.
0:25:33 > 0:25:37It's not something just done arbitrarily,
0:25:37 > 0:25:38it's done as a gift for her.
0:25:41 > 0:25:44What was going on here?
0:25:44 > 0:25:48Was Vincent, in his madness, trying to seduce this poor girl?
0:25:49 > 0:25:50Was he trying to scare her?
0:25:52 > 0:25:55Most intriguingly, he knows her,
0:25:55 > 0:25:57he asks for her by name.
0:26:00 > 0:26:02If we can find out who she was,
0:26:02 > 0:26:05maybe we can work out what he was doing,
0:26:05 > 0:26:08and thereby understand the act itself a little better.
0:26:13 > 0:26:17For Bernadette, this kicked off the search for Rachel,
0:26:17 > 0:26:21a search, in its way, as intriguing as the question about his ear.
0:26:21 > 0:26:26So I know that the prostitutes were all based
0:26:26 > 0:26:29in a particular part of town, which is section E.
0:26:31 > 0:26:35In 19th century France, brothels were regulated by the state.
0:26:36 > 0:26:39They were called Houses of Tolerance.
0:26:40 > 0:26:44The prostitutes and the madams were recorded in the town census,
0:26:44 > 0:26:47with delicate euphemisms for their jobs.
0:26:49 > 0:26:52A limonadier is just a term that they use to describe somebody
0:26:52 > 0:26:56who was running a brothel. It could also be somebody
0:26:56 > 0:26:58who actually did sell lemonade, so you have to be
0:26:58 > 0:27:00a little bit careful about judging people like that.
0:27:00 > 0:27:04Limonadier... So, I have to look for limonadier,
0:27:04 > 0:27:07and I have to look for fille soumise.
0:27:07 > 0:27:10A fille soumise means a girl under the thumb,
0:27:10 > 0:27:13a submissive woman, literally.
0:27:13 > 0:27:14A girl under the thumb,
0:27:14 > 0:27:17and that's what you call prostitutes.
0:27:17 > 0:27:19So, if we go down, look at the ages -
0:27:19 > 0:27:22They're a little bit older than one would imagine.
0:27:22 > 0:27:2726, 29, 25, 30, 30, 28...
0:27:27 > 0:27:28They're not young women.
0:27:30 > 0:27:35Each of these names stands for a woman Vincent might have visited.
0:27:35 > 0:27:40Officially registered prostitutes, strictly over 21,
0:27:40 > 0:27:45whose ages and health status were all recorded by the state.
0:27:45 > 0:27:50But Bernadette can't find Rachel, the one girl she's looking for.
0:27:50 > 0:27:55When I look at all the girls who are indicated as filles soumises,
0:27:55 > 0:28:01they've got lots of names - Jeanne, Ros, Marguerite, Marie, Madeleine.
0:28:01 > 0:28:03But there are no Rachels here whatsoever.
0:28:09 > 0:28:13Bernadette spent months trying to get to the bottom of this question.
0:28:13 > 0:28:16Why were there no Rachels in the town census?
0:28:20 > 0:28:24Then a clue emerged which completely changed everything.
0:28:26 > 0:28:31She revisited an old press article quoting the policeman
0:28:31 > 0:28:33who attended the scene of the crime.
0:28:34 > 0:28:39In it, he says, "The prostitute's name escapes me,
0:28:39 > 0:28:41"though her working name was Gaby."
0:28:45 > 0:28:48For Bernadette, there came a moment of realisation.
0:28:50 > 0:28:54Rachel is a highly unusual name in Arles.
0:28:56 > 0:28:57She went back to the records
0:28:57 > 0:29:00and found a document listing prostitutes.
0:29:03 > 0:29:08Many of the names were followed by the words "dite Rachel"...
0:29:08 > 0:29:09"Called Rachel."
0:29:12 > 0:29:14It's not their real name.
0:29:14 > 0:29:16It's just a nickname.
0:29:17 > 0:29:21You know, they have other names like Blondie and Redhead and silly things like that,
0:29:21 > 0:29:23but Rachel is one of the names that occurs,
0:29:23 > 0:29:25linked in to different girls.
0:29:25 > 0:29:27So, maybe...
0:29:27 > 0:29:31Although policeman Robert said Gaby was her working name,
0:29:31 > 0:29:32maybe he just got it wrong.
0:29:32 > 0:29:34Maybe it was her real name.
0:29:38 > 0:29:42There were no Rachels living in Arles in 1888,
0:29:42 > 0:29:46but there were 31 women called Gabrielle or Gaby.
0:29:49 > 0:29:53One of those women must have been the girl Vincent gave his ear to.
0:29:59 > 0:30:01If we can learn her identity,
0:30:01 > 0:30:06we may be able to understand what led him to give her his ear,
0:30:06 > 0:30:07or part of it.
0:30:09 > 0:30:12But there's another crucial character in this story,
0:30:12 > 0:30:14who's far easier to track down.
0:30:18 > 0:30:21In the weeks before he cut his ear,
0:30:21 > 0:30:23Vincent had been living cheek by jowl
0:30:23 > 0:30:26with another great post-Impressionist...
0:30:27 > 0:30:29The notorious Paul Gauguin.
0:30:31 > 0:30:34Gauguin was a very complicated and interesting painter,
0:30:34 > 0:30:35and a very great one.
0:30:35 > 0:30:37But he was sort of a jerk.
0:30:38 > 0:30:41He had a very high opinion of himself,
0:30:41 > 0:30:44but he also must have been terribly charismatic, cos not only
0:30:44 > 0:30:47did he draw women to him, but he also drew acolytes.
0:30:51 > 0:30:53One of his admirers was Vincent van Gogh.
0:30:55 > 0:31:00Gauguin was the man he went to first when Vincent hit upon a plan
0:31:00 > 0:31:05to reinvent the Yellow House as an artists' studio or brotherhood.
0:31:06 > 0:31:10They lived there in a sort of commune or a medieval guild
0:31:10 > 0:31:14or, as he put it, like a band of Japanese Buddhist monks.
0:31:14 > 0:31:18And his art dealer brother Theo would feed them and clothe them
0:31:18 > 0:31:21and give them canvases and paint,
0:31:21 > 0:31:23and the artists would just create.
0:31:26 > 0:31:28Vincent spent weeks writing to Gauguin,
0:31:28 > 0:31:32persuading him to join him in his utopian idea.
0:31:34 > 0:31:37The sunflowers were painted to decorate Gauguin's bedroom.
0:31:40 > 0:31:44He bought 12 wicker chairs for the brother artists,
0:31:44 > 0:31:48and one ornate chair for Gauguin himself,
0:31:48 > 0:31:53whose age and success meant he would be the Father Superior
0:31:53 > 0:31:54in their community.
0:31:57 > 0:32:00But the real Gauguin couldn't have been more different
0:32:00 > 0:32:02to Vincent's monkish ideal.
0:32:03 > 0:32:08A canny ex-banker, self-publicist and serial adulterer.
0:32:10 > 0:32:16He arrives in Arles, this ladies' man who has a pretty
0:32:16 > 0:32:19strong ego, and he finds himself
0:32:19 > 0:32:25in this house with this very difficult
0:32:25 > 0:32:27person with almost no self-esteem
0:32:27 > 0:32:30who doesn't believe he can possibly find
0:32:30 > 0:32:33a woman to sleep with without paying her,
0:32:33 > 0:32:36and it's a terrible situation.
0:32:36 > 0:32:39He's only there because Theo is paying him to be there,
0:32:39 > 0:32:42and almost within days of arrival,
0:32:42 > 0:32:45he's sending his friends back in Paris letters saying,
0:32:45 > 0:32:46"I've got to get out of here.
0:32:46 > 0:32:48"I can't possibly take this any longer."
0:32:51 > 0:32:55Van Gogh's dream of brotherhood was doomed from the start.
0:32:57 > 0:33:01Not only did he and Gauguin have different personalities,
0:33:01 > 0:33:02they disagreed about art.
0:33:07 > 0:33:09Gauguin liked to paint from his imagination.
0:33:10 > 0:33:14He found laughable Vincent's habit of painting from life.
0:33:16 > 0:33:20He produced what seems a mocking portrait of Vincent
0:33:20 > 0:33:21painting the sunflowers.
0:33:24 > 0:33:26Vincent looked at it and said...
0:33:28 > 0:33:31"That's me, all right, but me gone mad."
0:33:35 > 0:33:39According to Gauguin, there's a sequel to this story.
0:33:39 > 0:33:41After he had shown Van Gogh the painting,
0:33:41 > 0:33:43the two of them went to a bar
0:33:43 > 0:33:46where Van Gogh ordered a glass of absinthe.
0:33:46 > 0:33:49He then threw the absinthe and the glass at Gauguin.
0:33:49 > 0:33:51Gauguin ducked, it smashed on the wall,
0:33:51 > 0:33:54and he helped Van Gogh home and put him to bed.
0:33:54 > 0:33:58The next morning, Van Gogh woke up, saying,
0:33:58 > 0:34:01"My dear Gauguin, I have a dim recollection
0:34:01 > 0:34:03"that I fear I may have offended you last night."
0:34:07 > 0:34:09Vincent's dreams of artistic fraternity
0:34:09 > 0:34:11were turning into nightmares,
0:34:11 > 0:34:15and he was losing control of his fragile mental health.
0:34:19 > 0:34:21All was not well inside the Yellow House.
0:34:31 > 0:34:35In Arles, Bernadette is still trying to establish the identity
0:34:35 > 0:34:39of the girl called Gabrielle we're told Vincent gave his ear to.
0:34:43 > 0:34:48The search has hit multiple dead ends and frustrations,
0:34:48 > 0:34:53until a friend passed her a copy of a little-known book on Van Gogh
0:34:53 > 0:34:57which contained one crucial nugget of local knowledge about Gaby.
0:35:01 > 0:35:03Towards the end of the book,
0:35:03 > 0:35:08there are just four little lines, but for me they're really exciting.
0:35:08 > 0:35:15It says Rachel, who was called Gaby, died in 1952 at the age of 80.
0:35:17 > 0:35:20So what I have to do is find out if it really is true,
0:35:20 > 0:35:25whether I can find anybody called Gaby who died
0:35:25 > 0:35:28around the age of 80 in 1952.
0:35:31 > 0:35:35This information completely changes the search
0:35:35 > 0:35:40because only one person called Gabrielle died in Arles in 1952.
0:35:44 > 0:35:49But that person was a 19-year-old girl in 1888.
0:35:49 > 0:35:53In other words, two years too young, legally, to be a prostitute.
0:35:56 > 0:35:57Was that girl Gaby?
0:35:59 > 0:36:01If so, this'll be a sensitive issue,
0:36:01 > 0:36:04because her descendants still live just outside Arles.
0:36:08 > 0:36:11So I think I've really got to go and see the family now.
0:36:11 > 0:36:15It's not going to be an easy one though, because...
0:36:15 > 0:36:19I've got to talk to them and ask somebody
0:36:19 > 0:36:22if their family had a prostitute in the family.
0:36:25 > 0:36:29The family live out of town in a small village.
0:36:29 > 0:36:31If they confirm Gaby's identity,
0:36:31 > 0:36:35then we may finally understand what Vincent was doing
0:36:35 > 0:36:37at the brothel that night.
0:36:38 > 0:36:40But this is a secretive place.
0:36:41 > 0:36:44Bernadette met them the first time off-camera,
0:36:44 > 0:36:47and that cagey meeting was full of revelation.
0:36:52 > 0:36:56So we travelled there again in the hope of an interview.
0:37:01 > 0:37:05But, ultimately, they refused to be filmed or named.
0:37:06 > 0:37:10It's understandable, because what they had to say was so sensitive.
0:37:14 > 0:37:16The man looked at me and said...
0:37:18 > 0:37:20"Oh,
0:37:20 > 0:37:24"Rachel's my great grandmother."
0:37:24 > 0:37:26It's a really dark family secret.
0:37:27 > 0:37:31Well, it's only a dark family secret if she was a prostitute,
0:37:31 > 0:37:33and that's the whole problem.
0:37:33 > 0:37:34Was she or was she not?
0:37:37 > 0:37:41The family confirmed their ancestor, Gabrielle, was the girl
0:37:41 > 0:37:45who's always been called Rachel, but their story's only added
0:37:45 > 0:37:48to the doubts Bernadette had about her profession.
0:37:51 > 0:37:55Her age was not quite right, she married soon afterwards.
0:37:55 > 0:37:59It just didn't tie in with her being a prostitute.
0:37:59 > 0:38:04And the story only began to fall into place when I began to realise
0:38:04 > 0:38:07that she never was.
0:38:07 > 0:38:09What was she doing at the brothel then?
0:38:09 > 0:38:10She was a cleaner.
0:38:11 > 0:38:15Only... In the archives you find lists of cooks, cleaners.
0:38:15 > 0:38:19She was too young to be a prostitute, and that, I think,
0:38:19 > 0:38:23is why Vincent van Gogh actually met her in the...
0:38:25 > 0:38:26..in the street.
0:38:26 > 0:38:29That's why he didn't go in to the brothel that night.
0:38:29 > 0:38:31But that's no cause for shame, is it?
0:38:31 > 0:38:33I mean, she was just a...
0:38:33 > 0:38:36She was a femme de menage, a cleaner, or...
0:38:36 > 0:38:40Yeah. She was just a small, little meek working girl.
0:38:44 > 0:38:47This turns the traditional story on its head.
0:38:49 > 0:38:53Bernadette has seen evidence that not only was Gaby a cleaner
0:38:53 > 0:38:57at the brothel, she also worked at more than one
0:38:57 > 0:39:01of Vincent's favourite haunts on Place Lamartine.
0:39:01 > 0:39:03She wasn't his prostitute -
0:39:03 > 0:39:06she must have been a friend he saw every day.
0:39:09 > 0:39:14We're now closer than ever before to a true picture of what drove Vincent
0:39:14 > 0:39:15the night he cut his ear.
0:39:18 > 0:39:20And there's also evidence in the paintings
0:39:20 > 0:39:23for what was really on his mind.
0:39:31 > 0:39:36The Kroller-Muller Museum in the heart of the Dutch countryside
0:39:36 > 0:39:40has brought out for inspection one little-known canvas by Van Gogh.
0:39:42 > 0:39:46It's a painting he produced in the immediate aftermath
0:39:46 > 0:39:48of the night he cut his ear,
0:39:48 > 0:39:52and it has proved a mine of clues for experts
0:39:52 > 0:39:55as to Vincent's state of mind that night.
0:39:58 > 0:40:01Marieke, what do we know about this painting?
0:40:01 > 0:40:05We know it's one of the first paintings that Van Gogh made
0:40:05 > 0:40:08after getting back home when he was in the hospital,
0:40:08 > 0:40:13in which he just arranged a still life with onions in the middle,
0:40:13 > 0:40:15and a bottle, a coffee pot.
0:40:15 > 0:40:16This is a medical book, isn't it?
0:40:16 > 0:40:19It's a medical book for home use.
0:40:22 > 0:40:26This is a painting of the objects Vincent's mind dwelt upon
0:40:26 > 0:40:29as he tried to come to terms with what he'd done.
0:40:32 > 0:40:36Research has focused on the letter in the bottom right-hand corner,
0:40:36 > 0:40:40which we now know he received the very morning of the incident.
0:40:42 > 0:40:43A message from his brother.
0:40:45 > 0:40:51We know that because his handwriting is discernible.
0:40:51 > 0:40:55We also know that the envelope was stamped 67,
0:40:55 > 0:40:57and that's the number of the post office
0:40:57 > 0:41:02where his brother went to, near his apartment in Paris.
0:41:02 > 0:41:07And then there is a franking mark here,
0:41:07 > 0:41:10and it was used during Christmas and New Year,
0:41:10 > 0:41:14so that's how we know that it must have been sent end of December.
0:41:14 > 0:41:16Do we know what was in the envelope?
0:41:16 > 0:41:20There's a theory that this is the actual letter in which his brother
0:41:20 > 0:41:23announces his engagement to Jo Bonger.
0:41:23 > 0:41:25And why would that upset him?
0:41:26 > 0:41:30Well, Theo, to him, was his dearest friend.
0:41:30 > 0:41:33He supported him emotionally and financially,
0:41:33 > 0:41:37he sent him about 100 francs a month.
0:41:37 > 0:41:40So he might have been afraid of losing that,
0:41:40 > 0:41:43and it might have contributed to his mental breakdown.
0:41:46 > 0:41:49On December 21st, 1888,
0:41:49 > 0:41:53Vincent's brother Theo became engaged to his fiancee, Johanna.
0:41:55 > 0:41:59Van Gogh received the news on December 23rd,
0:41:59 > 0:42:03the same day Gauguin told him he was leaving.
0:42:05 > 0:42:08Was this the moment Vincent lost his grip on reality?
0:42:12 > 0:42:13In the Yellow House,
0:42:13 > 0:42:17did his mind teem with thoughts of his brother's happiness
0:42:17 > 0:42:19and Gauguin's betrayal?
0:42:21 > 0:42:25Gauguin himself later recorded Vincent's erratic conversation.
0:42:32 > 0:42:36Gothic novels were mentioned, with a hero stalked by madness.
0:42:39 > 0:42:42He dwelt on the murders of prostitutes
0:42:42 > 0:42:45being reported in the papers,
0:42:45 > 0:42:49and on the betrayal of Christ in the Garden of Gethsemane,
0:42:49 > 0:42:53when St Peter the disciple cut off a centurion's ear.
0:42:55 > 0:43:00"He was so bizarre that I couldn't take it," Gauguin wrote later.
0:43:00 > 0:43:02"He even said to me, 'Are you going to leave?'
0:43:02 > 0:43:07"And when I said 'Yes', he tore this sentence from a newspaper
0:43:07 > 0:43:09"and put it in my hand.
0:43:09 > 0:43:10"It said,
0:43:10 > 0:43:12"'The murderer took flight.'"
0:43:15 > 0:43:20Horrified, Gauguin left to spend the night in a hotel,
0:43:20 > 0:43:23leaving Vincent alone with his demons.
0:43:27 > 0:43:31What happened next has remained a complete mystery.
0:43:33 > 0:43:36But evidence was to emerge from the last place you'd expect.
0:43:43 > 0:43:48In 1956, MGM Pictures released Lust For Life,
0:43:48 > 0:43:52starring an Oscar-nominated Kirk Douglas as Vincent van Gogh.
0:43:54 > 0:43:59Its overblown score and dramatic performances cemented in our minds
0:43:59 > 0:44:04the Van Gogh of legend, slicing off his ear in a fit of madness.
0:44:06 > 0:44:10Experts have long since dismissed this version as histrionic.
0:44:12 > 0:44:16But, ironically, this scene led Bernadette to a clue
0:44:16 > 0:44:18that ended up being crucial.
0:44:22 > 0:44:25Deep in the Van Gogh Museum archives,
0:44:25 > 0:44:30she found a letter in an old magazine about Lust For Life.
0:44:30 > 0:44:34It explains how Irving Stone, the writer behind the film,
0:44:34 > 0:44:36did his research into the ear.
0:44:39 > 0:44:42This is a letter that's dated 1955.
0:44:42 > 0:44:45I'd originally rejected it because it was so recent,
0:44:45 > 0:44:51and it's a reply to a man who had questioned Time Magazine,
0:44:51 > 0:44:53who had done an article on Vincent van Gogh
0:44:53 > 0:44:56and talked about him having cut off his whole ear.
0:44:56 > 0:44:58This man had written and said, "No, no, no,
0:44:58 > 0:45:02"he only cut off the lobe, everybody knows that, Paul Signac said..."
0:45:02 > 0:45:05And this is from the editorial offices, and it says,
0:45:05 > 0:45:08"When Irving Stone, the author of Lust For Life, was in Arles,
0:45:08 > 0:45:11"he visited Dr Felix Rey.
0:45:11 > 0:45:13"Dr Rey was the only man still alive
0:45:13 > 0:45:16"who had seen Vincent van Gogh without his ear."
0:45:16 > 0:45:19But then it says something extraordinarily interesting.
0:45:19 > 0:45:24It says, "Dr Rey drew a medical diagram for Irving Stone
0:45:24 > 0:45:29"which he later signed and which Mr Stone now has in his possession."
0:45:30 > 0:45:34It's dated 1955, so what I need to know is...
0:45:34 > 0:45:38Is Felix Rey's medical diagram still somewhere?
0:45:42 > 0:45:46Felix Rey was the doctor who treated Vincent's injury
0:45:46 > 0:45:48throughout his time in the hospital.
0:45:51 > 0:45:54More than that, the two became friends, and Vincent painted him.
0:45:56 > 0:45:59There could be no better witness to what happened
0:45:59 > 0:46:01to Vincent van Gogh's ear.
0:46:01 > 0:46:04And, somewhere, there's a document he gave
0:46:04 > 0:46:08to Hollywood writer Irving Stone, answering exactly that question.
0:46:14 > 0:46:18The Irving Stone archive is kept in Berkeley, California.
0:46:27 > 0:46:31For Bernadette, this meant a journey across the world
0:46:31 > 0:46:33to San Francisco Bay.
0:46:37 > 0:46:41She's been e-mailing Berkeley's archivist, David Kessler,
0:46:41 > 0:46:44trying to track down Felix Rey's elusive drawing.
0:46:46 > 0:46:50This was sort of a ping pong that went over a couple of days
0:46:50 > 0:46:53of me saying, "Can you try this box?
0:46:53 > 0:46:55"How about this? What about this?"
0:46:55 > 0:46:58And him saying, "Well, I haven't really got anything like that."
0:47:00 > 0:47:03After my fifth question, I said,
0:47:03 > 0:47:05"Do you think you could just look one more time?"
0:47:08 > 0:47:09And I went to bed that night...
0:47:11 > 0:47:16..and I woke up the next morning and there was an e-mail in my inbox,
0:47:16 > 0:47:19you know, having mailed him all day long,
0:47:19 > 0:47:24and he said, in French, "Oh, mon Dieu, je l'ai trouve."
0:47:25 > 0:47:26"Oh, my God, I've found it."
0:47:29 > 0:47:30Now, finally,
0:47:30 > 0:47:34Bernadette is on her way to met the man she's been corresponding with...
0:47:36 > 0:47:39..and to see the document he says he's found.
0:47:41 > 0:47:44He just had... He discarded stuff as he went along,
0:47:44 > 0:47:45so only a very few things exist,
0:47:45 > 0:47:48so all of it fits in this box 91 of the collection.
0:47:48 > 0:47:50- And in this...- Wow.
0:47:50 > 0:47:54..one of the things I've finally found was a little document
0:47:54 > 0:47:57in the first folder
0:47:57 > 0:48:00which demonstrates what you've been looking for, I think,
0:48:00 > 0:48:01which is what happened with the ear.
0:48:02 > 0:48:04And if you go through here,
0:48:04 > 0:48:08eventually you find this tiny little document here.
0:48:08 > 0:48:09Oh, my godfathers.
0:48:10 > 0:48:12And it's from Dr Rey Felix.
0:48:13 > 0:48:16I think I'm going to lose it, I'm sorry.
0:48:16 > 0:48:18I worked so hard on this.
0:48:20 > 0:48:23I can't believe it. I can't believe it after all these years,
0:48:23 > 0:48:24I'm so sorry.
0:48:27 > 0:48:30It's just a thin little tiny piece of paper here, and so much is...
0:48:30 > 0:48:31So eloquent in its own way.
0:48:43 > 0:48:45This is from Dr Felix Rey.
0:48:45 > 0:48:47I can definitely say that's his signature.
0:48:47 > 0:48:50It's dated 18th of August 1930,
0:48:50 > 0:48:55and it's unbelievable, it's a before-and-after drawing, you know?
0:48:55 > 0:48:59And it says, "I'm so happy to be able to give you some information
0:48:59 > 0:49:04"that you asked me concerning my unhappy friend Van Gogh.
0:49:04 > 0:49:08"I do hope that you will glorify the genius of this remarkable painter.
0:49:08 > 0:49:10"Cordially yours, Dr Rey."
0:49:10 > 0:49:14And basically it's a drawing of an ear,
0:49:14 > 0:49:17and there's a dotted line and it says the ear was cut with a razor
0:49:17 > 0:49:20following the dotted line
0:49:20 > 0:49:23and the aspect that is left of the lobe of the ear.
0:49:23 > 0:49:26That's what it looked like afterwards.
0:49:26 > 0:49:29So, it really documents that he removed his whole ear.
0:49:29 > 0:49:32It must've been an incredibly painful thing to do, and it's...
0:49:32 > 0:49:36What was going through his mind at that time must've been remarkable.
0:49:36 > 0:49:39Well, I've been working, I think as you know, on this for some time,
0:49:39 > 0:49:42and you just... When you finally get to...
0:49:45 > 0:49:46..see something...
0:49:49 > 0:49:52..you realise
0:49:52 > 0:49:55what a really gruesome thing happened.
0:49:57 > 0:49:59It brings home the violence of the act.
0:50:13 > 0:50:14Now in Amsterdam,
0:50:14 > 0:50:18Bernadette has brought a copy of the document for verification
0:50:18 > 0:50:19by the Van Gogh Museum.
0:50:23 > 0:50:26Has she found the proof that eluded all the experts,
0:50:26 > 0:50:30that Van Gogh did cut off his whole ear?
0:50:31 > 0:50:33This is what I found in Berkeley.
0:50:34 > 0:50:37The museum have deployed Theo Middendorf
0:50:37 > 0:50:39and Louis van Tilborgh
0:50:39 > 0:50:42to see if this gains their seal of approval.
0:50:46 > 0:50:48Well, this is amazing.
0:50:48 > 0:50:50It's quite clear on what happened.
0:50:50 > 0:50:53So, only a tiny piece of the lobe...
0:50:53 > 0:50:56Yep, remained. There's no ambiguity.
0:50:56 > 0:50:57No, extraordinarily enough.
0:50:57 > 0:51:00He evidently wanted to make it clear by making two drawings.
0:51:00 > 0:51:02- Yeah.- Mm-hmm.- So, he didn't want the point to be missed.
0:51:02 > 0:51:04- Before and after.- Yep. I mean...
0:51:04 > 0:51:07I couldn't have dreamt of finding anything so crazy, really.
0:51:07 > 0:51:10Well, this stands the received wisdom on the head, doesn't it?
0:51:10 > 0:51:11It makes it very clear.
0:51:11 > 0:51:15I mean, now you've finally got the document of the person who saw him
0:51:15 > 0:51:16immediately after it happened.
0:51:16 > 0:51:20- And who treated him. - Who treated him and said that...
0:51:20 > 0:51:21Well, that it was a whole ear,
0:51:21 > 0:51:23and there's no reason any more to doubt that.
0:51:23 > 0:51:25That's the information he got from Rey.
0:51:25 > 0:51:27So, he only could have got it from Rey,
0:51:27 > 0:51:30so that makes it quite original, I would say.
0:51:31 > 0:51:35New evidence of Van Gogh is a rare commodity,
0:51:35 > 0:51:39let alone the final proof that he did cut off his ear.
0:51:40 > 0:51:43The museum has already begun negotiations for the document
0:51:43 > 0:51:46to star in a major new exhibition.
0:51:47 > 0:51:51It's an unprecedented achievement for an amateur researcher.
0:51:53 > 0:51:54It was really very thrilling.
0:51:54 > 0:51:58Very thrilling. And there's kind of something quite special
0:51:58 > 0:52:01about finding something new about someone who's so famous.
0:52:01 > 0:52:04When you find something like that and you think,
0:52:04 > 0:52:08"Well, nothing's going to come of it. Is it really real?"
0:52:08 > 0:52:14To have them say that it's a definitive answer to the question,
0:52:14 > 0:52:16I've... My heart was beating.
0:52:16 > 0:52:21Not many of us can say we've contributed to history, really.
0:52:21 > 0:52:23- I suppose you have. - I suppose I have.
0:52:23 > 0:52:26How funny. It is, it's great fun.
0:52:29 > 0:52:31But when the excitement dies down,
0:52:31 > 0:52:34you're left with a story that's deeply unsettling.
0:52:37 > 0:52:41Not just a cliche, a piece of art trivia,
0:52:41 > 0:52:43but a harrowing moment for a desperate man.
0:52:47 > 0:52:51People make jokes about Van Gogh's ear, but really,
0:52:51 > 0:52:55what happened that night in the Yellow House was pretty disturbing.
0:52:56 > 0:52:58There he was, alone,
0:52:58 > 0:53:03surrounded by all these amazing paintings which he couldn't sell.
0:53:03 > 0:53:08He thought about his life, he took a cut-throat razor,
0:53:08 > 0:53:10and he cut his ear from top to bottom.
0:53:11 > 0:53:14He severed the artery behind his ear,
0:53:14 > 0:53:17and rags were found later that he'd used
0:53:17 > 0:53:19to try to stem the flow of blood.
0:53:20 > 0:53:22But, instead of calling a doctor,
0:53:22 > 0:53:27he hid the wound under a hat and made preparations to go out.
0:53:29 > 0:53:33He wrapped up the severed ear in newspaper
0:53:33 > 0:53:35and headed out to a brothel.
0:53:35 > 0:53:38That is the last piece of the jigsaw.
0:53:38 > 0:53:39Why did he do it?
0:53:42 > 0:53:45Why did he take his ear to Gabrielle at the brothel?
0:53:47 > 0:53:50There's one last fascinating twist to this story.
0:53:54 > 0:53:58Before Vincent came to Arles, he was living in Paris...
0:54:00 > 0:54:03..and Bernadette has discovered that Gaby, the brothel cleaner,
0:54:03 > 0:54:05was there at the same time.
0:54:07 > 0:54:11So, this was the site of the original Institut Pasteur.
0:54:13 > 0:54:17She was sent here to the Institut Pasteur in January, 1888
0:54:17 > 0:54:20to be treated for a bite by a rabid dog.
0:54:21 > 0:54:23I have her medical record here.
0:54:23 > 0:54:26As you can see,
0:54:26 > 0:54:29the name, her first name and her age - she was just 18,
0:54:29 > 0:54:33and she was bitten by a dog in Arles on the 8th of January
0:54:33 > 0:54:35around 3 o'clock in the afternoon.
0:54:36 > 0:54:42The young Gabrielle received 20 injections over a period of 18 days,
0:54:42 > 0:54:43then she went back to Arles.
0:54:45 > 0:54:49Three weeks later, Vincent made the same journey.
0:54:49 > 0:54:52Cos he goes to Arles very shortly after this, doesn't he?
0:54:52 > 0:54:54Yes, very shortly, I mean it's literally...
0:54:54 > 0:54:58Did they meet here, and did Vincent follow Gaby down south?
0:55:00 > 0:55:02I also have a letter...
0:55:02 > 0:55:05Bernadette, at first, dismissed the thought,
0:55:05 > 0:55:09but then she found a letter Vincent wrote later that year which mentions
0:55:09 > 0:55:13poor girls treated for rabies in this very institution.
0:55:16 > 0:55:21He was, at the very least, intrigued and moved to pity by her injury.
0:55:23 > 0:55:27So, what do you think is the significance of this discovery?
0:55:27 > 0:55:29Well, I think Vincent had...
0:55:29 > 0:55:32Was always attracted to people who were in difficulty,
0:55:32 > 0:55:34or he wanted to help in some way,
0:55:34 > 0:55:38so the notion of taking the ear to this particular girl,
0:55:38 > 0:55:42a girl who had a visible scar, somebody who had suffered,
0:55:42 > 0:55:46she becomes another of his wounded angels that he wanted to help.
0:55:48 > 0:55:52It's a tantalising thought that Gaby could have been the reason
0:55:52 > 0:55:55Van Gogh went to Arles in the first place.
0:55:56 > 0:55:59But it also suggests a new interpretation
0:55:59 > 0:56:02of what Vincent was doing by giving her his ear.
0:56:03 > 0:56:08Vincent had always been drawn to unfortunate women and nurtured
0:56:08 > 0:56:12Christ-like fantasies of martyring himself for the poor.
0:56:13 > 0:56:15It looks as if, in his distress,
0:56:15 > 0:56:20he saw giving Gaby his ear as an act of religious self-sacrifice
0:56:20 > 0:56:21and compassion.
0:56:24 > 0:56:29Van Gogh would end his own life only 18 months later,
0:56:29 > 0:56:33but Gaby lived on until she was 82 years old.
0:56:39 > 0:56:43This odyssey has transformed the whole debate about that night.
0:56:45 > 0:56:50This dangerous madman and this supposed prostitute
0:56:50 > 0:56:53have been shown for the real, suffering people they were,
0:56:53 > 0:56:56and that presents a different picture
0:56:56 > 0:56:58of the man behind the canvas.
0:56:59 > 0:57:02Knowing what happened that night, knowing the whole story,
0:57:02 > 0:57:06changes entirely how you see these paintings.
0:57:06 > 0:57:09They're no longer just familiar masterpieces,
0:57:09 > 0:57:11but you see them entirely afresh.
0:57:14 > 0:57:18That brilliant but tragic year in Arles has left us with images
0:57:18 > 0:57:21that electrify the world,
0:57:21 > 0:57:25and now we can understand far better the story behind them.
0:57:27 > 0:57:28At the Van Gogh Museum,
0:57:28 > 0:57:32all the artworks and artefacts that led to these revelations
0:57:32 > 0:57:33are coming together.
0:57:37 > 0:57:40The confusing deathbed drawing,
0:57:40 > 0:57:43the still-life with his brother's letter,
0:57:43 > 0:57:47the portrait he gave as a gift to Felix Rey,
0:57:47 > 0:57:50in a new exhibition, On The Verge Of Insanity,
0:57:50 > 0:57:52that rewrites the legend
0:57:52 > 0:57:55of Vincent's descent into mental illness.
0:57:55 > 0:57:57And, amidst the masterpieces,
0:57:57 > 0:58:01one tiny document forgotten by history
0:58:01 > 0:58:05that finally solves the mystery of Van Gogh's ear.